Artificial intelligence technology is poised to wreak havoc on the music industry, with a new study showing that recording artists can expect to lose nearly a quarter of their income within the next four years due to AI. The study, released Wednesday by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), found that the AI revolution will make technology companies even richer while artists will see their revenue streams take a hit unless government regulators step in. Music creators are at risk of losing 24 percent of their income by 2028, the group said. In the music sector, generative AI music is projected to account for approximately 20 percent of traditional music streaming platforms’ revenues, and around 60 percent of music libraries’ revenues, by 2028. The troubling findings come as AI companies seek to upend the broader entertainment industry by appealing to penny-pinching corporate executives to adopt the technology as a cost-saving measure. As a result, many creative workers and artisans could find themselves on the chopping block or see their opportunities dwindle as AI replaces many of their functions. Labor unions like SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America have sought guarantees from studios that their jobs will be protected from the encroachment of AI. While the Hollywood guilds have touted progress on the topic, many in the entertainment industry fear studios will still find a way to cut costs with AI and put thousands of jobs in peril. AI was a major point of contention during last year’s actors strike , which, along with the concurrent writers strike , brought most of Hollywood to a historic halt for several months, with numerous TV and movie productions being forced to suspend activity at enormous cost to the studios. When the dust finally settled, SAG-AFTRA claimed it had scored important victories in protecting its actor members against the encroachment of AI. But questions remain about just how significant those victories were, with some dissenters saying they fall short of true protections and give studios room to exploit loopholes. The Writers Guild of America also trumpeted a supposed victory. Studios must now disclose if any material given to writers has been generated by AI. In addition, studios can’t force writers to use AI, nor can AI receive credit on a TV show or movie. But again, ambiguities abound. AI applications like ChatGPT are already being used by some writers as a tool in their creative process. And studios are expected to search for legal loopholes that will enable them to capitalize on the technology. Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg . Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
Prime Video has unveiled the first footage and premiere date for Season 3 of fantasy epic series The Wheel of Time . The upcoming season will launch globally on Prime Video on March 13, the streamer revealed during the show’s panel Saturday at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil. The teaser trailer unveils a changing world, where the Shadow’s roots have taken hold and the battle between Light and Dark has become so consequential that Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and Egwene (Madeleine Madden) will stop at nothing to keep from losing Rand (Josha Stradowski) to the darkness. You can watch it above. The Wheel of Time, set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists but only women can use it, is co-produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television and comes from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Chuck writer Rafe Judkins, who is showrunner and exec producer. The show is based on the best-selling Robert Jordan fantasy book series The Wheel of Time, in which a humble farm boy, Rand al’Thor, learns he is The Dragon Reborn—a dangerous figure from history destined to save the world ... or break it. The Wheel of Time turns, and the Last Battle approaches. At the end of Season 2, after defeating Ishamael, Rand reunites with his friends at Falme and is declared the Dragon Reborn. But in Season Three, the threats against the Light are multiplying: the White Tower stands divided, the Black Ajah run free, old enemies return to the Two Rivers, and the remaining Forsaken are in hot pursuit of the Dragon... including Lanfear, whose relationship with Rand will mark a crucial choice between Light and Dark for them both. As the ties to his past begin to unravel, and his corrupted power grows stronger, Rand becomes increasingly unrecognizable to his closest allies, Moiraine and Egwene. These powerful women, who started the series as teacher and student, must now work together to prevent the Dragon from turning to the Dark...no matter the cost. In addition to Pike, Stradowski and Madden, Daniel Henney stars as al’Lan Mandragoran, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al’Meara, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, Dónal Finn as Mat Cauthon, Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand, Kate Fleetwood as Leandrin Guirale, Natasha O’Keeffe as Lanfear, Ayoola Smart and Kae Alexander as Min Farshaw. Judkins adapted The Wheel of Time for television and executive produces with Pike, along with Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of iwot productions ( Winter Dragon ), Ted Field of Radar Pictures ( Jumanji: The Next Level, Winter Dragon ), Mike Weber ( Jumanji: The Next Level, Beirut ), Marigo Kehoe (Outlander, The Crown ), Ciaran Donnelly ( Kin ), Justine Juel Gillmer (The Survivor, Halo ) and Dave Hill ( Game of Thrones ). All episodes of the first two seasons of The Wheel of Time are now available on Prime Video.The Latest: Former President Jimmy Carter is Dead at age 100
Seal is served: How coastal First Nations are reclaiming their roots by bringing back the hunt To bring back the forgotten tradition, young Indigenous men from the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warriors Family harvested four harbour seals in October. Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Dec 29, 2024 12:14 AM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Spencer Greening crouches with harbour seals recently harvested with members of the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family for a community feast. RACHEL DICKENS-GREENING Listen to this article 00:08:35 Before there was a highway connecting Vancouver Island’s west coast to the rest of Canada and long before there was a food store bringing in fresh supplies, coastal First Nations hunted and ate seal for subsistence. To bring back this forgotten tradition, young Indigenous men from the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warriors Family harvested four harbour seals in October — two from Sarita Bay in Huu-ay-aht First Nations modern treaty territory and two from unceded Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations territory. For most of the Warriors, the whole experience of harbour seal hunting, or kuukuḥw̓isa ʔuʔuʔiiḥ as they say in Nuu-chah-nulth language, was a first. “There were a lot of emotions and tears of joy and pride in bringing this back and revitalizing this knowledge that’s asleep that existed up and down the coast,” said Spencer Greening (La’goot). Greening, an Indigenous scholar from the Ts’myen (Tsimshian) People of the Pacific northwest, was trained by his elders in how to hunt seal. He was invited by the Warriors Family to mentor the team and show them how to harvest, gut and butcher the marine mammal as his ancestors did. “It was a total privilege to be in this territory and mentor like they mentored me,” said Greening. Huu-ay-aht member Leonard Nookemis, 24, joined fellow Warrior and Huu-ay-aht member Andrew Clappis Jr. with knowledge keeper Tommy Joe and Greening on the hunt in Sarita Bay. Sporting a wetsuit for the mission, Nookemis says they ventured into a shallow estuary in their little tin boat and saw seals scooting around everywhere. “Fifteen or 20 popped up. It was a pick-which-one-you-want kind of deal,” said Nookemis. “I got to shoot it and had to dive through all his blood. I was snorkelling around trying to find it. It was my first big-game kill.” “If you make a clean shot on a seal, often they’ll float because of their blubber content and because of the salt. Sometimes they do sink,” Greening noted. Upon returning to shore, the rest of the Warriors team were called up to help with the butchering. “We cut open one of the guts and there was a whole spring salmon in there. It just fell right out,” Nookemis said, adding that the bone was really easy to butcher. “It was way softer than a deer.” As you take apart a seal, Greening explained, the hide comes off first then the blubber is separated from the hide, cleaned and cubed for rendering into oil. After the blubber, the seal meat is butchered into cuts for jarring and cuts for cooking. “We used everything we could,” said Greening. The Warriors will learn how to tan the hides, or pelt, at a future workshop. Traditionally, seal pelts were used for all sorts of regalia like boots, gloves, earrings and coats. In a 1969 Fisheries and Research Board of Canada report on the harbour seal in B.C., author Michael Bigg wrote that: “Since 1962, this seal has been hunted for its commercially valued pelt. Seal hunters generally receive between $5 and $35 for a prime raw pelt and up to $50 when the demand is high.” The ecological benefits of hunting seal In his 1969 report, Bigg stated that the harbour seal “gained notoriety from the fishing industry and sports fishermen as a predator on commercially valuable fish species.” To reduce predation, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans put a bounty on the seal from 1914 to 1964, Bigg reported. The commercial seal hunt ended in 1967 and the Pacific harbour seal population in B.C. has since increased to around 100,000, according to a Fisheries and Oceans Canada species bulletin from 2019. Greening, a PhD student at Simon Fraser University, is investigating how using Indigenous knowledge and language in stewardship can create more sustainable Canadian land management practices. He said the plight of wild salmon is another reason why modern day coastal First Nations are keen on reviving seal hunting practices. “Salmon stocks and salmon numbers are some of the worst they’ve ever been within memory. Seal and sea lions play a big part of that,” said Greening. “Becoming seal hunters again, we’re introducing ourselves back into the ecosystem as Indigenous people; an ecosystem where we were able to influence and sustain amazing fish populations for millennia. This is just one tool to help salmon populations.” Community feast Everything harvested was part of a community feast and gifted out. Rachel Dickens-Greening, a diabetes dietitian and PhD candidate at the University of B.C. studying land and food systems, spent two days teaching the Warriors how to process and cook the seal for a community feast. “The act of hunting the seal was just as important as cooking it and gifting it. We fed over 30 people in Opitsaht and there was jarred meat for people to take home,” said Dickens-Greening, a new mother to baby girl Maaya’ol, which means ‘berry of the bears’ in the Ts’msyen language. Seal meat is very dark, notes Greening, who is Rachel’s husband, and it’s like gelatin when you butcher it. “But it firms right up once you cook it,” said Dickens-Greening. “Often we are cooking it on a low and slow temperature to get it tender.” Seal dishes served included ribs, burgers, tacos, seal and gravy, crispy fried heart, liver and onions and a sweet and salty recipe based on a Vietnamese caramelized pork recipe — a favourite amongst the Warriors. “The plates were empty,” said Nookemis, noting that he thought the seal meat tasted a lot like roast beef. “It was really good.” One elder shared at the community feast that he hadn’t eaten seal since the 1940s. The flipper, a delicacy that was traditionally served to chiefs, matriarchs and the highest elder, was scorched and boiled like pigs’ feet. Seal harvesting rights in B.C. Status-Indians don’t need a licence and have the right to hunt seal and sea lion in their territory for food, social and ceremonial purposes, according to the 2017 Legal Services Society publication A Guide to Aboriginal Harvesting Rights . Greening said that back home in Ts’msyen territory “it’s no questions asked, it’s totally fine, as long as you have status and you’re in your traditional territory.” As a modern treaty Nation, Huu-ay-aht was required to submit a Wildlife Harvest Plan to DFO and undergo a year-long permissions process to harvest seal, whereas Tla-o-qui-aht went internally for permissions with knowledge holders and the First Nation. For non-status Indians, Legal Aid says the regulations in B.C. do not recognize your right to hunt, trap, or freshwater fish without a licence, and when it comes to hunting seals, it’s illegal in the province unless you are a status-Indian. In Eastern Canada however, seal hunters in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick can seek a personal licence to harvest up to six harp and/or grey seals, according to a recent announcement from DFO. “Previously, DFO’s Commercial Fisheries Licensing Policy for Eastern Canada only allowed harvesters in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador to apply for personal-use seal licences,” reads the DFO announcement. “In addition to expanding the personal-use seal harvest into new provinces, amendments to the policy have also incorporated the long-standing practice of requiring harvesters to participate in humane harvesting information sessions.” DFO went on to say it will work with provinces on options to further expand access to the personal-use seal harvest next year. Nookemis is already looking forward to harvesting his next seal. He said he wants to get a pelt for his grandparents and thinks seal meat could one day be distributed in the community just like food fish. Nora O’Malley is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Ha-Shilth-Sa. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message More Local News Dave Obee: Three days left to donate to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund Dec 29, 2024 12:14 AM Drought hangover at B.C. Hydro has eased as utility enters 2025 Dec 28, 2024 11:00 PM Police close street near Esquimalt High for mental-health crisis call Dec 28, 2024 6:08 PM Featured Flyer
GWM continues expansion with new Calamba dealership By Hazel Nicole Carreon GREAT WALL MOTORS (GWM) Philippines continues to solidify and widen its presence in the country with the opening of its newest dealership — this one located along Maharlika Highway, in Calamba, Laguna. It targets a growing market in this part of Laguna, in addition to nearby provinces such as Batangas and Cavite. Operated by the Autohub Group, the newly inaugurated GWM Calamba is a 3S (sales, service, and spare parts) facility which boasts a modern showroom that can display up to four vehicle units. Its particularly spacious service area, which will be shared by other Autohub-operated brands in Calamba, will be fully open by January. It is the third GWM establishment of the Autohub Group, following the opening of dealerships in Makati and Santa Rosa, Laguna. Another GWM-Autohub location is slated to open in Dasmariñas, Cavite in the first quarter of 2025. “The opening of GWM Calamba is a testament of our commitment to our brand,” said Autohub Group President Willy Tee Ten in his speech at the inauguration ceremony. “It shows that we believe in the GWM brand, and we are here to make sure that it becomes successful.” GWM Calamba is open from Monday to Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Distributed by the Luxuriant Automotive Group, Inc. (LAGI), GWM made its entry in the Philippines in 2023. Since then, the China-headquartered car maker has gained significant traction in the local market with its diverse lineup of vehicles which include the Haval H6 hybrid SUV, Haval Jolion subcompact crossover, Ora electric hatchback, Tank 300 SUV, and Cannon pickup truck. The brand’s focus on cutting-edge technology, stylish design, and outstanding performance is said to have resonated with a segment of Filipino car buyers. According to LAGI Assistant Vice-President and Director of Business Strategy River Wang, GWM in 2023 sold 1.23 million units globally and generated US$24 million in revenues. “Until now, GWM is still growing bigger,” the executive maintained. “We are planning to bring more models to the Philippine market, so we are looking forward to a better performance next year.” With the inauguration of GWM Calamba, the brand now has a robust network of 16 dealerships nationwide, enabling it to reach more customers and provide quality after-sales support. For more information, visit gwm.com.ph.Stock market today: Wall Street drifts lower as it waits for inflation data
CINCINNATI (AP) — Saturday's wild overtime win over the Denver Broncos was the most important in what has been a mostly disappointing season for the Cincinnati Bengals. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * CINCINNATI (AP) — Saturday's wild overtime win over the Denver Broncos was the most important in what has been a mostly disappointing season for the Cincinnati Bengals. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? CINCINNATI (AP) — Saturday’s wild overtime win over the Denver Broncos was the most important in what has been a mostly disappointing season for the Cincinnati Bengals. Not only did the Bengals (8-8) win their fourth straight for the first time this season and keep their slim playoff hopes alive, but they also finally made enough plays late to win a close game. Seven of their previous eight losses were by one score. And Cincinnati also got a win over one of the league’s better teams. Its seven previous victories came against sub-.500 teams. Joe Burrow, in the midst of the best season of his career, threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins with 1:07 left in overtime to win it 30-24. The final drive followed two critical stops by the Cincinnati defense. “We’ve known we had a good football team all along,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “And those (close) games are disappointing that we came up short, but they didn’t change our process. They didn’t change what our guys believed in. We didn’t have to change everything we did. We still believed in what we were doing. And now we’ve won four in a row, and we have to make it five in a row.” The playoffs are still a long shot. To get there, the Bengals will have to go into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers next weekend in the regular-season finale and also count on other bubble teams losing. What’s working The Bengals are playing their best football of the season. Burrow, battered by the Denver pass rush, completed nearly 80% of his passes in piling up 412 yards and three touchdowns. It marked his eighth straight game with at least 250 yards and three touchdown passes, extending his NFL record. ... Receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who had nine catches for 102 yards against the Broncos, could finish the season with the receiving triple crown — most catches, yards and touchdowns. What needs help The offensive line continues to struggle, even with the return of starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Burrow rarely had a clean pocket, was constantly on the run and was sacked seven times and hit 15 times. Stock up The Cincinnati defense, much maligned this season, forced two Denver punts in overtime. The second one led to the Bengals’ game-winning drive. Linebacker Germaine Pratt intercepted Bo Nix to end a Denver drive in the fourth quarter. “For them to rise up and get those two stops and allow the offense a shot to go win it (is) big-time stuff,” Taylor said. Higgins caught 11 passes for 131 yards and was the recipient of all three of Burrow’s touchdown passes. “Everybody can see what kind of player he is,” Burrow said of Higgins, who is playing this season with the franchise tag. “He elevates us to a different level when he’s playing like that.” Stock down Kicker Cade York, who was signed in early December to fill in for the injured Evan McPherson, had a chance to win the game with 2:49 left in overtime, but his 33-yard field-goal attempt bounced off the left upright. Injuries RB Chase Brown sprained his ankle in an awkward slide as the Bengals tried to run out the clock in regulation. ... OT Amarius Mims suffered an injury to his right hand. Key number Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 499 — total yards by the Bengals against Denver. Next steps The Bengals finish the season at Pittsburgh. The Steelers beat them 44-38 on Dec. 1. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Advertisement Advertisement
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